EDHEC Augmented Law Institute and Sopra Steria sign a partnership to develop an agility index for legal departments
Over the next 3 months, Sopra Steria's legal teams, who benefit from an advanced agility culture, will work with researchers from the EDHEC Augmented Law Institute to establish the components and performance factors of the "Agile Legal Department".
The index obtained on the basis of this research work will be integrated into AlllMyIndex.legal created in 2021 by EDHEC's pioneering legal research and training centre in partnership with Legal Suite. AlllMyIndex.legal integrates a scoring and certification platform for legal departments on several transformation themes, including innovation, which is already available.
From spring 2022, the availability of this new index will enable all legal departments to assess their level of agility, to certify themselves as "Agile Legal Departments", to promote their transformation score to their organisation and their teams, and to boost their employer brand.
Measuring the agility of a legal department: a question of survival
The volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity that characterise the economic world require organisations to adapt quickly.
In this context, 90% of executives surveyed by the Intelligence Economic Unit believe that organisational agility is essential to ensure economic success. Agility, characterised by rapid decision-making and execution, customer focus, proactivity and adaptation, is therefore crucial to competitiveness. Research conducted by MIT suggests that agile companies increase their revenues 37% faster and generate 30% more profit than non-agile companies. Agility would improve customer satisfaction, operational performance, employee engagement and results by an average of 30% according to a study by McKinsey & Company.
Faced with this observation and certain rigid and anti-agile behavioural drifts sometimes associated with the Legal Department, the EDHEC Augmented Law Institute wished to undertake research and development work aimed at creating a tool to assess the real level of agility of legal teams.
"Everything that can be measured can be improved," explains Jérôme Frizzera-Mogli, Head of Innovation & Business Development at the EDHEC Augmented Law Institute.
"Everything that can be measured can be improved," explains Jérôme Frizzera-Mogli, Head of Innovation & Business Development at the EDHEC Augmented Law Institute.
This reflection began with the publication, in February 2021, of a white paper entitled "Agility" in which EDHEC explains the need and the benefits for the Legal Department to "free up sources of agility" (short time) and to "create a culture of agility" (long time). Christophe Roquilly, Director of the EDHEC Augmented Law Institute, points out that agility is a response to the many challenges faced by the Legal Department: increasing risks in organisations, changing business models, digitalisation and automation, difficult retention of talent, etc.
Sopra Steria: "Agile Legal Department" under study
Pre-qualified as "Agile" by researchers from the EDHEC Augmented Law Institute, Sopra Steria's Legal Department will be studied from an organisational, strategic and behavioural perspective through a series of interviews and observation sessions. This research protocol will be completed by a review of the state of the art on business agility. For Sopra Steria's Legal Department, agility is a real day-to-day operating mode based on an operational, intelligent and pragmatic approach to the role of the lawyer and to the way in which the law is "made" within the company.
At a time when the existence of formalised rules is becoming more important than their actual scope or applicability, this approach has guided the construction of the legal function within the Sopra Steria Group and enables it to continue to adapt rapidly to market changes and to the Group's constant growth (both external and organic).
The approach taken with the EDHEC Augmented Law Institute should make it possible to promote the asset that an agile legal department can represent for a company and to change the perception of the legal function, which - well beyond being a simple business partner - must be a real strategic player in decision-making.
